Dakoda West struck out six over six solid innings, while
Ryan Kroepel drove in three runs and recorded the save, to help lead Utah Tech baseball to a 6-3 victory at Sacramento State on Friday afternoon at John Smith Field.
The Trailblazers (22-29/8-15 WAC) evened their final WAC series of the 2025 series at a game apiece, and kept pace with Seattle U (8-15) in the battle for the final spot in next week's WAC Tournament. Seattle U pulled even with Utah Tech after the Redhawks recorded a 10-5 road win at UT Arlington on Friday night.
Utah Tech jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning when with a runner on first and one out, Kroepel doubled down the right field line. The Hornet outfielder could not come up with the ball cleanly later in the play, which allowed Kroepel to scamper to third, while
Kyle McDaniel, who reached on a one-out single, raced home carrying the game's first run.
Hunter Katschke followed that up two pitches later with a clean single to left center to chase home Kroepel to give the Blazers a two-run cushion.
Meanwhile West (W, 3-6) had it going early, retiring nine of the first 10 Hornets he faced with three strikeouts.
However Sacramento State (31-23/15-8 WAC) managed to draw even in the fourth when after a lead-off walk and strikeout, JP Smith a two-run opposite field home run to right.
Those two runs would be all the junior righthander would give up as West only allowed three more Hornets to reach base over his final three, one of which was erased on a sixth-inning double play, while another was walked intentionally.
Utah Tech took the lead for good in the seventh when
Kace Naone laced an RBI-double down the left field line. Kroepel followed with an infield single, and after the junior stole second, Sac State pitcher Carson Latimer fired an errant pick off throw passed the second base bag, which allowed Naone to score.
Junior reliever
Ethan Gardner came on in place of West in the seventh and held Sacramento State scoreless over the next two innings. The Trailblazer offense followed that effort with two big two-out insurance runs in the ninth to extend to a 6-2 advantage.
Petey Soto Jr. started the rally with a one-out single and later went first-to-third on McDaniel's third hit of the day. Then after McDaniel swiped second with two outs, Kroepel lined a single to right field to drive home both base runners.
Sacramento State tried to mount a rally in the home ninth, which started with consecutive walks that forced Gardner from the game and moved Kroepel from third base to the mound.
Kroepel retired the first two Hornets he faced on a lineout and strikeout. Then after a run-scoring base hit extended the game, Kroepel got Matt Masciangelo to fly out to
Ethan Royal in center field to end the ball game.
Kroepel extended his season-long hit streak to 15-straight games as he finished with a career-high tying four hits to lead the Trailblazer offense, which outhit the Hornets by an 11-6 count.
In addition, Kroepel earned his eighth save of the season, which moved him into a tie for eighth place on Utah Tech's single season saves list, and t-ninth on the program's career saves list.
McDaniel's three hits extended his school NCAA Division-I era record on-base streak to 37-straight games, and his current hit streak to 10-straight games. McDaniel also moved to within two games of tying former Utah Tech shortstop Tanner Morache's (39 games, 2016) overall NCAA-era program on-base streak record.
West surrendered only three total hits over six innings complete, while his six strikeouts tied his career high.
Utah Tech will look to clinch the series win, and the final WAC tournament berth, in its final game of the 2025 regular season on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. (MT).
